I didn't know about heating up the luster dust once mixed into the fondant...VERY cool idea!!

I think I'm going to try to "paint" the Fondant bottle with Black airbrush color. It looks like it comes out pretty shiny, and I'm told "dries" with no sticky, or tacky feeling.

I'm also looking at maybe ordering some SugarVeil. --I think I might be able to "wrap" that around a bottle and let it set...not sure if this "sugarveil" stuff actually dries (sets-up) hard in the end, or if it's "shiny" looking like glass when it does....

I don't tint the glucose mixture, but I do paint the colour onto the fondant first and make sure I have my light and dark areas painted - hard to explain but down one side of the champagne bottle for example I made a little lighter in colour to give it a shadowing effect like a real bottle.

Once the colouring drys, I then paint on the mixture. Best of luck and let me know if you need any other info... happy to help.

When I did my wine bottle, I just painted gel color on with vodka, and it came out really shiny and stayed that way. I did the base fondant in a green, then mixed green and yellow for the painting color.

Also I did a green wine bottle (tinted the fondant) and then also added more juniper green to the vodka before I added the corn syrup. I painted the mixture onto the bottle with a pastry brush. I was thrilled with the results.

I painted my wine bottle the color I wanted, then I used confectioners glaze. It looked like the real thing. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it works really well!http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1908769

Also I did a green wine bottle (tinted the fondant) and then also added more juniper green to the vodka before I added the corn syrup. I painted the mixture onto the bottle with a pastry brush. I was thrilled with the results.

Would you believe I did a search online last weekend and found the recipe using the 50/50 vodka and corn syrup and it worked perfectly! Looks just like glass and dries completely. I was going to post the recipe but now I see you beat me to it. ha ha Thanks!!! I highly recommend this method if you want a shiny glass like finish.

Your pic. are beautiful,did you brush the grapes with water after they dried ? Another words I have some grapes here that i made a couple of weeks ago that i need for a cake this weekend can i still brush them with water??

If you go on Amazon.com I ordered a little hand held steamer from there and it was only like 15.00. It works great just like the big ones on all the cake shows. It heats up quick and holds enough water to do a big cake : )

I usually put a little color and vanilla extract mix and paint it on, sorry tried to post from my picks but couldn't get into them but all of my picks I've done are like that and the shine stays forever, never have a problem. Take a look.

**Update**Okay...I made the vodka/corn syrup glaze and did NOT like it. Nope! Why? well, at first when I applied it looked shinny and smooth yaaayyy but then by the time it dried it looked 'blotchy'!!! does that happen to everyone or was it just me??

Anyway, I did my first wine bottle crate cake for my SIL 30th anniversary and I had such a struggle that I wanted to cry ---I made my gumpaste bottle and it dried fine but I felt that when I brushed it with the glaze(vodka/corn syrup) it made the bottle soft and it slightly made it spread. At the same time my edible ink printer runned out of ink so, I had to use paper images and the label for the bottle wouldn't stick because the 'blotchy' glaze had dried... I almost (almost!!) put the whole darn cake in the garbage and order an Albertson's cake --the side panels were not perfectly straight either-- and no I did not have enough fondant to re-do the panels and did NOT feel like making fondant at 3am

Sorry for the long story but I had to share...I knew some of you would understand. BTW, I'm a hobby baker and still in the learning curve...and yeah I tend to be a perfectionist and a bit on the OCD side

Rosie2,I'm so sorry this cake was such a pain for you. I hate it when cakes fight back Let's see if we can troubleshoot a few of the issuse in hopes you won't have this much frustration next time.

How long did you let the bottle dry? It takes a while. I dried my gumpaste on the bottle for 2 days, then I removed it from the bottle and flipped it over so the inside could dry for another day. So it took at least 3 days for the bottle to dry.

For the vodka corn syrup, when you say blotchy was the shine blotchy or the color blotchy? I did apply a couple of coats to my bottle. I applied them back to back without any drying time between them. I'm wondering if there was any shortening on your bottle that caused the syrup/vodka mixture not to adhear to the bottle that would cause the blotchiness in the shine. Can't think of anything else that might cause that. If the color was blotchy it could be that the color wasn't mixed fully into the vodka/syrup mixture.

My panels were not straight straight either but I am learning to get past my perfectionist issues and step away from the cake and come back 15 minutes later with fresh eyes and see what I think. And if you've ever looked at a wooden crate there is nothing perfect about them. They have gaps, uneven panels and seams So really your crate was realistic!

If you're going to do panels on cakes, I highly recommend Sugar Shack's Boxes and Bows DVD. It has an outstanding walk through on working with panels, making them even and hiding seams

What did your sister think? Was the cake a hit? I ask because my guess is you're the only one who saw the minor imprefections.

Sillywabbitzzzzz, you're an angel!!!!! yessss, how did you know the cake was a hit!! my SIL was thrilled because I did it as a surprise for both of them (they love wine) and she even took pics and put them in her FB page aggghhh (blussing here)

Ok, about the bottle I did dried it for 3 days, but never thought about turning it (blushing again) --- (I should know better!!)

About the glaze---it was the actual glaze, not the paint, that became blotchy and maybe(yikes) maybe I didn't mix well (??) I mixed it with my brush but not a whole lot....

About Sharon's videos I've viewed them at my local library some time ago, but you know what? I'm gonna order the boxes and bows from her!!

Thank you again dear Sillywabbitz, and yeah it was me that looked at the imperfections because people that don't do cakes don't see it all. My nephews at the reception were telling everyone that her aunt had made the amazing bottle cake LOL BTW, I haven't upload my bottle cake pic since CC wasn't allowing me to but I will so you can see it

I figured it was a BIG hit I learned the trick about drying the inside from Sugar Shacks blog tutorial on the bottle cake. I would be lost without her!I have several of her DVDs and I rewatch every few months for those extra little reminders...I have a tendency to get lazy

I figured it was a BIG hit I learned the trick about drying the inside from Sugar Shacks blog tutorial on the bottle cake. I would be lost without her!I have several of her DVDs and I rewatch every few months for those extra little reminders...I have a tendency to get lazy

I can't wait to see a pic.

thank you again sillywabbitz, you rock!! I will upload my pic this afternoon! You know, last month I ordered Sharon's new 'books dvd' and I can't wait to get it!! I will order more of her dvds for sure!!